BOULDER -- Sheriff's deputies will be on hand at a Thursday afternoon public hearing on oil and gas issues, in case the Boulder County commissioners need to call on them to help maintain order.

The commissioners and their staff have issued a written advisory to anyone intending to attend the hearing, warning against behavior such as yelling, singing, chanting, shouting at the board or other attendees, or other activities that disrupt the hearing.

Uniformed law enforcement officers also were stationed at the commissioners' Dec. 6 and Dec. 13 discussions of oil and gas regulations, after chanting anti-fracking protesters disrupted a Dec. 4 hearing and delayed its start for almost half an hour.

Some of those in that night's standing-room-only crowd later jeered at an oil company spokeswoman when she testified at that hearing. Several followed her out of that Dec. 4 meeting and heckled her as she -- accompanied by courthouse security personnel -- walked to her car.

The Dec. 6 and Dec. 13 oil and gas discussions were public meetings but didn't include public hearings. People wanting the county to ban hydraulic fracturing, the process of injecting a mixture of sand, gravel and chemicals to free up underground oil and gas deposits, were generally civil, although some at the Dec. 13 meeting taped their own mouths shut to signal that they thought the commissioners had imposed a gag order.

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In a memo that's been attached to the county staff's online report for this coming Thursday's hearing -- and that's expected to be a handout at that meeting -- the commissioners and their staff state that "Boulder County has a long and storied tradition of protecting First Amendment rights and taking extensive public input on policy and legislative matters. However, we must balance the continued public input with our ability to conduct the business of the county."

The memo says individuals or groups who try to disrupt Thursday's meeting, "or who attempt to thwart the ability of specific speakers to address the board, will be asked to stop their disruption. If further disruption continues, those individuals will be removed from the hearing room and the Courthouse."

The memo adds that "if the disruption makes it impossible for the board to conduct its business, the hearing room will be cleared and the meeting continued."

If board chairwoman Cindy Domenico has to ask an individual or group to leave the room, the memo says, Boulder County officials are asking "that the disrupting party leave the room without incident. Failure to do so will result in legal action."

County officials said in the memo, though, that the Courthouse plaza on downtown Boulder's Pearl Street Mall "has been designated as the public forum for protest activities," and that any protests "should occur outside the Courthouse."

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